Colors
by Soorim
Summary: Shikamaru has to write a poem about his favorite color: Gold, like sunshine... or the hair of a slightly dense blond. Naruto has to write a poem as well... but when they have to peer edit, guess who gets paired up? ( Sequel to " What Bothers Shikamaru( S
1. Warm

Colors

By MaroonSorrow

( Shikamaru/ Naruto)

Part 1: Warm

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Flames shall be used to fry stereotypes. I suggest you read

" What Bothers Shikamaru" before/after reading this.

Colors....

Today, Shikamaru is sitting in class with Naruto. The teacher is preaching something about the expression of the soul... the vibrancy of colors....Shikamaru is lazily gazing out the window, watching cotton clouds meander across the light summer sky.

He smiles lazily, an almost cynical smile as the teachers' words register.

These are the same people who easily overlook the most vibrant colors of all; the blue of Naruto's eyes and the gold set in his hair.

Colors....

They have to write an poem, apparently. The topic is, of course, their favorite color.

" You have twenty minutes to make a rough draft!" yells the teacher. So everyone grumbles and then they start working.

Except for Shikamaru.... internally debating between gold and blue, he glances in Naruto's direction, where sunlight glints off sunny hair.

Gold, then.

Like lightning from rain clouds or sun illuminating a Go board. A warm, bright, royal color...

Like a phoenix of legend running from hunters or a prized piece of metal...

Like the dusty trophies in Shikamaru's gray room...

And, the obvious one: Like the shining hair of a slightly dense blond.

Shikamaru starts writing.

Twenty or so minutes later the teachers barks out " Find a partner!"

Immediately, twenty or so girls dive at Sasuke, causing chaos as they desperately fight to get to Sasuke.... who walks over to Neji.

As the cat fight dissipates, everyone starts to pair up. A stray Sasuke groupie wanders over to Shikamaru. " You probably like... like gray or something," she snickers, glancing at his paper.

" Gold...? That isn't even really a color... " The stray wanders back to her group, who all look over at him and giggle.

The teacher commands "Start peer editing!!"

Shikamaru is now wishing he hadn't written anything....

" I t's so bothersome to find a partner."

But of course, Naruto is sitting by himself.

Before Shikamaru can help it, his legs go on autopilot, sitting him down next to Naruto.

Damn.

Naruto leans over to see what Shikamaru wrote...

And Shikamaru is blushing.

: : : Smart doesn't mean bright: Dense doesn't mean dull: : :

Tbc?

I apologize in advance if it turned out incoherent, this was a random inspiration that hit me.

" Colors" is vaguely a sequel to " What Bothers Shikamaru." The little school setting used in both takes place right before the beginning of Naruto Volume 1. I'm going to be writing another two chapters to "Colors," I think... depends on whether this little known pairing still interests people ... One chapter where Naruto thinks about his favorite color and one where Shika and Naru compare poems...

- as always, Maroon Sorrow


	2. Cold

Colors

By MaroonSorrow

(Shikamaru/Naruto)

Part Two: Cool

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Any flames shall be used to toast boring teachers. All repetition is intentional...

Naruto is sitting in class. He's listening to the teacher yack on about soles () and colors. Yeesh. The baby blue summer sky just seems to be begging him to go outside, to find a tree to climb or a prank to play. What a waste of a day...

Colors...

Wait a second... everyone around Naruto is getting paper out. Aw man, it looks like the teacher is giving everyone an assignment... but what is it? Oh, it's on the board.... they have to write a poem about their favorite color. " You have twenty minutes to make a rough draft!" yells the teacher. So everyone grumbles and then they start working.

Except for Naruto. Naruto has never really thought about what his favorite color is. He runs through a mental list of colors... orange maybe? Naruto likes the vividness of orange, but sometimes it seems too bright, too loud... ( "Like you.") says something inside him, but he ignores it. Not orange, then. Glancing around the room, he spots Shikamaru's brown hair framed in sunlight by the window.

Brown? Yeah, Brown.

Like Iruka sensei's hair. A soft, reliable, comfortable color.

Like hot chocolate in the winter.

Like the teddy bears Naruto used to see in toy store windows.

Brown isn't conspicuous. It isn't necessarily liked, but it isn't hated either.

Brown is calm, happy to be itself... not needing proof of worth.

Seeing as there doesn't seem to be any hope of escaping the classroom anytime soon, Naruto stars writing.

Eventually he hears the teacher screech "Find a partner!" Naruto looks up to see Sakura dive for Sasuke. Damn that Sasuke. Of course, no one comes over to sit by Naruto. Ordinarily, he would have stood up, shrugged and started looking for someone to share his work with. But oddly enough, Naruto doesn't quite feel up to doing that today.

He sits down, glancing around at the groups of groupies...

"Start peer editing!"

Now what...?

But suddenly Naruto's view is blocked, because someone is standing in front of him... and the someone sits down... next to him! Naruto leans over to see the name on the paper ( Nara Shikamaru) and what color Shikamaru's poem is about...

: : : Love Conquers Boredom: : :

Tbc?

Sorry about the repetition, but this IS essentially chapter one from a different point of view. Another thing... Naruto is difficult for me to write, so sorry if he's OOC. I have established a time line for the Shika/Naruto Fanfiction I've been writing: "Colors" is their first meeting, "Clouds, Storm and Sun " is the present, and " What Bothers Shikamaru" takes place somewhere in between. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my other stories...

WaterBookLover: Yep... this is one pairing that their certainly isn't an overabundance of...

Luna: Thanx for all your reviews...

Mikhyel: You're the second reader to starts dancing... pokes fic

Yaoilover S: Ha! Death to fangirls!! waves flag

- Ja ne, Maroon Sorrow


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